


i'll show you how i swing!

by dexdizznee (ofcatsandstars)



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Alternate Universe - Marvel Fusion, Alternate Universe - Spider-Man Fusion, Dex is Spider-Man, Gen, dc???? theres also a bit of that!! we're going full comic nerd baby!, heavy themes of friendship - Freeform, possible detz later, probable detz later, there's avengers! there's x-men! there's fantastic four! what more could you want!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-16 03:24:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16946073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofcatsandstars/pseuds/dexdizznee
Summary: Dex Dizznee, or the recently-realized Spider-man, is living through the most chaotic time of his life. Not only is he the newest vigilante-hero on the block, but his dad is injured, so he has to juggle his school life as well as helping watch the pharmacy and his siblings. His one saving grace is that Iskra Stark,theIronheart, has taken him under her wing. When an arsonist begins to threaten Eternalia, Dex isn’t sure how he’s going to handle it all.(or, the spider-man!dex au)





	i'll show you how i swing!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dex gets bitten, gets sick, and gets super. Also, anxiety, Yahoo Answers, nerd brains, and wholesome appreciation for your friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello and welcome to the spider-man au!!!  
> Just a few things:  
> \- my knowledge of marvel comics is very limited, so i’m mostly going off of the movie versions, wiki pages, insomniac spider-man, and the few comics i have read.  
> \- Lady Iskra doesn’t have a canon last name afaik, so it’s Stark for the purposes of the au. I’ll change it if she does, idk  
> \- Ironheart is this universe’s equivalent of iron man! Iron woman just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Sorry for stealing your name, riri williams
> 
> also, like, yeah, the title's from [i dont dance](https://youtu.be/OdSI5W44gWM) from hsm2. best song from the best movie in existence dont @ me

> **Stark Industries** @StarkIndustries 3d
> 
> SI Eternalia has begun tests with particle beams!  bit.ly/k07Lc 

* * *

There’s a spider crawling on the display case.  
  
Technically, Dex was _supposed_ to be listening to the tour guide, but there’s only so much information about early inventions of Stark Industries he could force himself to pay attention to. Besides, he had been idolizing Iskra Stark since he was in, like, third grade, and had read every book on Stark Industries he could find. He could probably lead the tour himself, if he wanted to.  
  
…If he wasn’t paying attention to the spider. It continued its journey across the glass, legs scuttling as fast as they could. Dex thought for a moment. Trying to get the spider to crawl onto his hand would _probably_ be a bad idea. But spiders… are cool. He carefully placed his finger into the spider’s path, mentally celebrating when it crawled on. He lifted his hand closer to his face to get a better look. It was... small. And dark. And, uh, spidery. He made a note to himself to look up spiders indigenous to science labs. He carefully turned his hand over palm-side down as the spider scrambled onto the top of his hand. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pinch and jerked his hand, shaking the spider off.  
  
_Ouch!_ It _bit_ him!  
  
He hesitated before toeing it gently where it lay legs-up on the floor.  
  
It was dead. Rude.  
  
He rubbed the bite gingerly. Sophie nudged him with her elbow. You _okay?_ she mouthed. Dex held up the ok sign and gave her a grimace-smile. She smiled back, rolling her eyes and elbowing him again before turning back towards the tour guide.

* * *

The class piled onto the bus, squeezing into their seats. Dex settled into a seat with Sophie, their other friends sitting in seats around them. After he had called ‘here’ at his teacher, Dex looked out the window at Stark Tower stretching above them. Eternalia was one of the newest, flashiest cities, and it showed in the architecture. The city was filled with gleaming, colorful towers stretching into a spectacular skyline. Stark Tower was metallic red with gold accents, reminiscent of Ironheart’s suit. Iskra Stark just really liked red and gold, Dex supposed.

“Alright, we’re good to go. Sit down, don’t do anything that’ll get you hurt.” their teacher flashed the bus a thumbs up and sat down.

“Thoughts on the tour?” Sophie asked the group.

“I thought it was cool,” Dex answered. “I, uh, knew pretty much everything they talked about already, but it was cool to actually go inside and see things.”

“Nerd.” Dex stuck his tongue out at Keefe because he’s mature and sophisticated.

“Let’s not fight, kids,” Tam deadpanned.

“Only for you, bangs,” Keefe cooed.

“You’re incorrigible.” Tam’s tone was as flat as ever, but there was a hint of an amused smile on his face.

“Honestly, I’m so glad we had this today.” Biana said, pressing her cheek into the seat back. “Thanks to Iskra Stark for giving me more time to study for that history test.”

“And for enriching our malleable young minds with a lifelong passion for science,” Dex chimed in with a grin.

“And for saving us from whatever supervillain wants to terrorise the world this month,” added Linh.

“Dang, Ironheart does, like, a lot for us.” Sophie said.

Biana shrugged. “I’m mostly thankful for the history part.”

* * *

Dex waved to his dad as he rang up a customer in their pharmacy, who winked and shot a grin back at him. As he followed the triplets stomping up the stairs to their home, he absently scratched the spider bite on the back of his hand. 

“Dex! How was the field trip?” his mom asked, pulling him into a hug and pressing a kiss to the side of his head.  
  
“It was good,” he replied, pulling away. “Didn’t learn much I didn’t know already,” he joked. “But it was cool that we got to see inside! One of the lab techs gave us a demonstration with a basic AI.”  
  
“Sounds fun. I assume you didn’t get to meet Iskra Stark herself?”  
  
“Nah. If I had, I think I’d lead with that.”  
  
“I dunno. You teens are so mysterious and moody. Maybe you were saving it for last,” Juline said with a smile.  
  
Dex rolled his eyes and grinned. “Trust me, when genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist-Iskra-Ironheart-Stark finds time in her busy schedule to pencil me in, I’ll let you know.”

Juline smiled. “Good. Well, you should get your work done in time for dinner.”

“I will.”

Dex finished the last of his calculus homework before dinner, (during which he only got about three peas thrown at him by the triplets) and played a couple hours of video games before getting ready for bed. He brushed his teeth, took his contacts out, and pulled on some Ironheart pajama pants he was only a little embarrassed of wearing.

He woke up Friday morning with a high fever and a runny nose. He stayed home from school.

* * *

 

> **Sunday, 4:37 PM**
> 
> **Bidexual** : Hey, thanks for sending me notes and assignments and stuff! It really helped
> 
> **Bidexual** : I’ve been declared Fit To Attend School Monday, so look forward to that
> 
> **Bidexual** : or don’t, i dunno
> 
> **Keefester™** : Local Boy Recovers From Geek-Ass Science Shit Overload, more at 7
> 
> **Bidexual** : rude
> 
> **glitter incarnate** : keefe you skipped an entire grade. whos the real nerd here
> 
> **Keefester™** : not me

* * *

Dex rolled out of bed Monday morning and stopped his blaring alarm clock. He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth and splashed water on his face, then went back to his room to pull on a t-shirt and jeans. He glanced out the window for a moment to check the weather-- about the same as yesterday, slightly cloudy and windy. He grabbed his jacket from where it was hanging over a chair, and-- hold on.

Dex stepped back towards the window. He squinted. He rubbed his eyes. Nothing changed.

He could see completely clearly. Did he leave his contacts on overnight? He touched a finger to his eye. Nothing, except now his eye hurt. Wiping away the tears welling up with his fist, he studied the outside world again. He could still see every single leaf on the tree across from his home. He could see everything just as clearly as he could with contacts-- perhaps even better.

What the fuck was going on?

Utterly baffled, Dex continued on his morning routine of packing up his bag and sticking a pop-tart in the toaster.

Once he’d gotten his siblings out the door and onto the school bus, he mumbled a ‘good morning’ to the bus driver and sat down. He rested his cheek against the window of the bus, staring out at the city. There was always something pretty to look at in Eternalia. Tourists were always walking among the streets, marveling at the architecture and bright colors. It was busy, but almost charmingly so. Enternalia was always filled with life.

As Dex stared at the buildings going by, he was reminded of his suddenly-clear vision. He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes, but his vision was still frustratingly sharp. He _needed_ to find out what had happened to him. He pulled out his phone, going to the most reliable anonymous internet question forum: answers.yahoo.com. Chewing on his lip, he typed out his question.

 

> **I woke up with perfect vision??**
> 
> I’m nearsighted and usually have to wear contacts or glasses. But today i woke up and I could suddenly see clearly??? I just recovered from a cold recently so that might be it. Are there any studies or research done on any links between the two???? Thanks.

Right after he pressed ‘submit’, he realized how delusional he sounded. Well, it was anonymous, so the worst thing that could possibly happen is someone would make fun of him on the internet. Plus, it was (admittedly far less) possible that someone would give a good answer. Slightly possible. A boy could dream.

* * *

“The British began seizing American ships trading with France, and—“

First-period history class was always a joy to be in. Dex absently bounced his leg as he scribbled in his notes when, out of nowhere, he got a pit-like feeling in his stomach that _holy fuck, something was about to go terribly, horribly wrong._ Dex looked around the classroom, chewing on his lip. Nothing _looked_ terribly, horribly, wrong, except maybe for Keefe threatening to fall asleep— wait.  
  
“Uh, Ms. Dara—“ a box of markers crashed to the ground from the shelf with a _CRASH,_ scattering markers onto the heads of the students and shocking awake Keefe. “—I think that box is gonna fall.” Dex mumbled under the noise of the other students.  
  
Well, that was… weird.

* * *

The rest of the morning passed without incident. When lunch finally came, Dex went through the line, scooping pasta onto his plate and grabbing a ripe-looking apple before joining his friends at their usual table.

“Welcome back, Dexy!” Keefe said, spreading his arms wide and grinning.

Dex wrinkled his nose. “Don’t call me ‘Dexy’,” he replied, setting his tray down.

“So, Dexy,” Keefe continued. “We were theorizing about why you were missing school.”

“Uh-huh,” he prompted, shoveling a forkful of pasta to his mouth.

“The leading theories were that A: you had the flu—which is boring as hell, by the way, _Fitz,_ — , B: that you were dead or dying in a ditch somewhere, and C: that you had seen so much Science on the field trip that your poor nerd brain had overloaded.” Keefe ticked off each option on his fingers as he said them.

“Uh, I had a cold, I think.”

“Lame. No drama. No _intrigue,_ ” he lamented, gesticulating with an apple before taking an angry bite out of it.

“Shut up, Keefe,” Biana cut in. “We’re all glad you’re better, Dex.”

“Yeah, it’s good to have you back, Dex.” Fitz said.

Dex smiled at him. “Thanks. It’s good to be back.”

Dex basked in the brief moment of wholesome appreciation for his friends.

“Sophie, you’ve got to tell everyone what happened during English.” Linh said, eyes alight as she tugged on Sophie’s sleeve.

Sophie grinned. “Okay, so we were discussing chapter 9, right? And so this one guy says…”

* * *

Dex slipped his now-finished homework into a folder and into his backpack. Now, he had time to work on some gadgets. He fished around in his parts box, pulling out a steel pipe and squeezing it experimentally. It crumpled as if it were made out of construction paper. He jumped up, slamming the mangled pipe onto his desk with a _clang_.

“What,” he said, “the _fuck.”_ Dex pinched at the edge of the pipe, and it twisted easily between his fingers. Dex set the deformed pipe back into the box. Or, at least, he _tried_ to. His hand was just… stuck. To the pipe. He tried to flex his fingers back, but they just stuck to the pipe.

 _Okay, no worries,_ he thought. _There was probably just glue on the pipe. I’ll just wash it off and everything will be_ fine. He walked over to the bathroom door and turned the doorknob. As he stepped through the door, he suddenly couldn’t let go of the doorknob. He stepped back, shutting the door again. Dex exhaled. He pressed his other hand against the door, trying to pull his hand off. When that didn’t work, he leveraged his foot against the door, extending his leg to pull his hand off.

It didn’t work.

He pulled harder. “Ugh– stop– sticking!” Dex hissed. When nothing happened, he sighed, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. He’d probably have to call for help soon. He tried to put his foot back on the ground, but, it was also stuck to the wall. Of course. Now, he had one foot stuck to the door, one hand stuck on the doorknob, the other hand stuck to a crushed pipe, and one foot on the ground. He experimentally lifted his free foot away from the ground, lost his balance, and flailed both of his un-stuck limbs around. The pipe clattered to the floor, and all of his limbs were now stuck to the wall.

Well, at least the pipe wasn’t stuck. One problem down, four more to go.

Now that he was fairly confident that he wouldn’t fall, he was able to pry his hand away from the doorknob. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, so he just placed it back onto the wall, slightly higher. He did the same with his right hand, then with his feet, and then he was crawling horizontally, limbs sticking to the wall, somehow.

Considering all the other weird stuff that had happened to him, Dex wasn't even sure he was surprised anymore.

He continued his crawl up onto the ceiling, where he idled straight over his bed, considering how he could lower himself onto the mattress. His phone pinged and he made a strangled sound of surprise and let go of the ceiling, landing on top of his mattress.

As he bounced on his back, he rubbed his hands on his face. Was he having some kind of bizarre fever dream? He pinched his arm and winced. Probably not dreaming. But if he _wasn’t_ dreaming, what was happening to him?

Dex stared at the ceiling. He’d deal with this tomorrow.

* * *

 

> **I woke up with perfect vision??** 9h (edited 2m)
> 
> I’m nearsighted and usually have to wear contacts or glasses. But today i woke up and I could suddenly see clearly??? I just recovered from a cold recently so that might be it. Are there any studies or research done on any links between the two???? Thanks.
> 
> edit: no i didn’t leave in my contacts
> 
>  
> 
> **Answers**
> 
> **SilverDragon27** 5m  
>  Did you leave your contacts in overnight?

* * *

As the week went on, Dex found time to test the limits of his new, uh, abilities. So far, he seemed to have enhanced strength and reflexes as well as enhanced healing (he had seen a papercut close and heal over disturbingly fast. It was an experience.). Those seemed pretty tame, as far as superpowers went. There was also the weird premonition-y anxiety he got whenever something was about to happen to him. So far, it had flared up when a box of markers fell from a shelf, when someone threw a crumpled paper ball at him (the look on his classmate’s face when he turned and caught it in mid-air was priceless), and when he tripped over a rock. The final and weirdest ability he had was the whole sticking-to-walls thing. There didn’t seem to be a limit on the time–– just as long as he concentrated. It probably went hand-in-hand with the enhanced strength. No matter what, it was _strange._ And weirdly reminiscent of a spider.

So far, he had succeeded in hiding his newfound powers from people. No matter how many people were pro-Avengers or X-men or Fantastic Four, there were still a lot who were scared of mutants or _hated_ them. Which he was, now. A mutant. Dex. His brain was still having a little trouble connecting the two.

Dex was deep in thought, walking home late from robotics practice, when he felt the now-familiar anxiety in his chest. Snapping out of his thoughts, his eyes darted around the area, looking for any danger. As he froze in place, he hear the sound of a gun cocking and a voice. _Oh shit. A mugger._ Dex’s heart rate picked up, and he hurried as fast as he could away from the noises. He’d just be a little later than usual.

* * *

“Your dad’s out right now,” Juline informed him once he got home. “He should be back soon, later tonight.”

Dex poked at his gadgets-in-progress for a while before starting on his homework. As he did, the anxious feeling started up again, slowly. Dex dismissed it after doing a check of his room for any impending disasters, then the kitchen for any fire hazards, and then poking his head into the rest of the house. Nothing looked bad, and the feeling was only getting worse by the minute.

When the house got a phone call, Dex’s heartbeat was pounding in his ears. He listened to his mother’s half of the conversation from the next room over.

“Hello? Yes, this is Juline Dizznee. Yes I am. There’s been–– _what?_ Yes. Okay. I’ll be right over.” Dex heard a _click_ as she set the phone down. He stepped into the kitchen cautiously.

“Uh, what was that?” His mom hurried by him, towards the coats. “There’s been–– an accident,” she said quietly enough to not alert the triplets. “Your dad’s in the hospital. He was shot by a mugger. I need to be there. Can you take care of the triplets?” She looked him in the eyes.

Dex swallowed, nodding wordlessly.

Juline smiled tightly. “Thanks. I love you.” The doorway shut behind her, leaving Dex with a crushing feeling of _oh, no, what if this was_ my _fault?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: this chapter is formatted kinda weirdly! I promise future chapters will probably have better flow. hopefully.  
> 2: I tried to translate the whole sparkly crystal city into real life! I hope it worked ok  
> 3: The Slurps and Burps home-over-a-pharmacy was based on the tiny pharmacy in my neighborhood! Shoutout to the corner drugstore. you have great ice cream.  
> 4: the video game dex plays is breath of the wild! sorry, but i DO make the rules this time  
> 5: i know it’s literally impossible for elves to wear glasses but it’s important to the story so just roll with me here  
> 6: please imagine the mcelroys answering dex’s question because that 100% happens in this canon  
> 7: lady dara is an Actual history mentor!!! be proud of me for knowing kotlc facts  
> 8: me??? projecting my love for my friends onto dex??? more likely than you think.
> 
> Thank you so very much for reading this!! This is a fic concept ive had for far too long and i am Very excited to finally post it.
> 
> kudos/comments are always appreciated, either here or on my tumblr! (@dexdizznee)


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